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Bahamas suffering prolonged exposure to powerful Hurricane Dorian

Ben Domensino, 3 September 2019

Hurricane Dorian stalled over the Bahamas on Monday, causing a prolonged period of life-threatening weather on Grand Bahama Island.

Satellite images reveal that Hurricane Dorian took more than 24 hours to traverse half the length of Grand Bahama, an island that's only about 120km wide. During this time, Dorian has only gradually weakened from a chart-topping category five hurricane to a category four system. Despite weakening, Hurricane Dorian is still causing destructive weather.

#Dorian has taken more than 24 hours to traverse half of Grand Bahama. This prolonged exposure to the hurricane's powerful eye wall, combined with storm surge, has caused significant flooding and structural damage on the island. A truly devastating hurricane. pic.twitter.com/JHAOmt8G6k

Hurricane Dorian will remain slow-moving near Grand Bahama during Monday night into Tuesday morning, before picking up some speed and moving towards the north northwest later on Tuesday.

Dorian is expected to move close to and roughly parallel to Florida's east coast on Wednesday and could pass near the coasts of Georgia and the Carolinas on Thursday. Even a small change to this predicted path could result in Dorian making landfall in the southeast United States. Either scenario is likely to cause life-threatening weather in populated areas during the next few days.